1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a method and system for maintaining or improving wellness of an individual. More particularly, the present invention is related to a method and system for maintaining and improving wellness of an individual by using biomarkers.
2. Description of the Related Technology
People with a higher quality of life generally have an enhanced state of wellness. When people achieve enhanced wellness, they are more productive in all phases of their life: home, work, relationships, etc. The overall sense of wellness also helps with preventing illness and therefore decreases the need for healthcare. Wellness is much more than merely physical health, exercise or nutrition. It is the full integration of states of physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Wellness, especially physical wellness, is developed through a combination of beneficial physical activities, optimized living environment and healthy eating habits.
However, the onset of industrialization and advancements of modern technologies have changed people's lifestyle dramatically. Large proportions of the world population are now only a supermarket or fast food chain away from a variety of over-the-counter calorie-dense meals. In addition, most people spend the majority of their waking hours in a sedentary position—either pursuing an office job, watching television, playing computer games, reading or socializing. Unfortunately, the human body is ill-fitted for such a “high calorie intake—low calorie expenditure” lifestyle. The abundance of serious metabolic disorders characteristic of modern societies (e.g. obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, etc.) reflects the detriments of the modern human's lifestyle.
According to the 2009 Global Health Risks report (WHO, 2009) four of the five leading global risks for mortality pertain to metabolic abnormalities, these being high blood pressure (accounting for 13% of mortalities), high blood glucose (6%), physical inactivity (6%) and being overweight or obese (5%). At the same time, six of the eight risk factors accounting for the majority (61%) of cardiovascular mortalities are symptomatic of the modern lifestyle (i.e. high blood pressure, high body mass index, high cholesterol, high blood glucose, low fruit and vegetable intake, and physical inactivity).
Maintaining or even improving wellness can contribute tremendously to the quality of life. Researchers have developed many approaches and systems for improving wellness. WO 2013/009589 discloses a personalized nutritional and wellness assistant system comprising at least one light source, at least one light detector, and at least one component for generating or storing at least one value of carbon dioxide production rate or at least one value of oxygen consumption rate from the detected signal. The system can take an individual's expired air to measure the carbon dioxide production rate and/or oxygen consumption rate. The system is capable of providing a user with continuous real-time feedback about his/her current nutritional state, energy uptake levels, energy expenditure levels, and energy balance. The system may be programmed to provide warning signals to a user whenever the user's personal energy balance went outside a desirable range, and/or motivational feedback to help the user stay within the specified range. The system may also provide the user with instantaneous advice regarding the most suitable food sources to eat at any given time.
EP 1 248 213 A1 discloses a health advising method and system for providing information about a person's health, which enables the person to manage his own health needs. The health advising method comprises steps of receiving an application from a user who seeks advice about health; and sending a question sheet about the user's life, a kit for storing blood, and a blood-collecting needle to the user by mail. When the question sheet about the user's life is filled in, the kit into which blood of the user has been dropped, and the blood-collecting needle is sent back, an operator analyzes the blood in the kit. The analysis results (such as albumin, C-reactive protein blood sugar, count of red blood cells, count of white blood cells) and the answers to the questions are saved in a morbid state analysis expert system. The morbid state analysis expert system creates advice for the user on the basis of the saved data and knowledge accumulated in a database. The advice may include medical advice, nutritional advice, and exercise advice.
US 2013/0122518 discloses a method for monitoring an individual's health. The method comprises the steps of collecting a sample from the individual; applying the sample to an assay panel for monitoring biomarkers for three common risk factors: inflammation, oxidative stress, and antioxidant activity; performing at least one inflammation monitoring test, at least one oxidative stress monitoring test, and at least one antioxidant activity monitoring test in the panel; and determining levels of biomarkers related to inflammation, oxidative stress, and antioxidant activity. The assay panel is capable of monitoring biomarkers in urine or blood by chemical or enzymatic reactions, as well as by the use of antibodies. The method further provides information to the individual regarding the individual's relative health and/or risk of developing one or more diseases.
US 2012/0197534 discloses a biomarker monitoring system including a communication network, a portable wellness device configured to form a communication link with the communication network, the portable wellness device including an electronic detector configured to detect at least one biomarker in a biologic sample, a first memory, a plurality of program instructions stored in the first memory, and a processing circuit operably connected to the first memory and configured to execute the program instructions to generate wellness data based upon detection of the at least one biomarker in the biologic sample, and a remote user interface operably connected to the communication network and configured to display wellness data indicative of the status of an immune system based on the detection of the biomarkers.
US 2013/0130933 discloses a method for assessing the health and wellness status of an individual comprising the steps of: a) collecting a sample from the individual; b) measuring a plurality of biomarkers in said sample to generate a plurality of biomarker levels; c) determining a wellness index of the individual based said biomarker levels. The wellness index may include 1) the individual's biomarker-based index for risk of developing or having a disease; 2) the individual's biomarker-based index for risk for death; and/or 3) the individual's biomarker-based index of wellness and longevity.
WO 2010/138975 discloses a system and method for motivating users to improve their wellness by utilizing complex event processing based on sensors and user-interaction data from users. The method comprises the steps of receiving sensor data and user-interaction data of a user being monitored; performing continuous analytics on the received sensor and user-interaction data over time to determine current and predicted future wellness states of the user using complex event processing with inference and predictive models; performing background analytics on the received sensor and user-interaction data along with previously received sensor and user-interaction data from the user and other users to update parameters of the inference and predictive models; generating a personalized intervention for the user using at least the determined current and predicted future wellness states when a triggering rule is satisfied to motivate the user toward a wellness goal of the user; and performing outcome analytics to investigate which interventions work for which users in order to optimize interventions over time. The sensors are used to collect raw data of the users, including activity data, fitness data, biometric parameters and biomarkers. The motivations may be another's successful experience, scoring the user's efforts toward a personal goal, social network influences and creating virtual competitions.
US 2013/0124218 discloses a system and method to encourage a user through social media to participate in health-improving activities and to engage in health-conscious behaviors, thereby improving their overall health condition. The method comprises the step of: providing a computing system comprising a processor, a data storage medium, and software. The software causes the computing system to: form a plurality of virtual teams based on team formation data stored in the data storage medium; and form one or more virtual challenges based on challenge formation data stored in the data storage medium; where a user competes as a member of at least one of the plurality of virtual teams in the one or more virtual challenges by sending data representing a tracked health condition of the user over an electronic network to the computing system.
The references discussed above fail to appreciate that biomarkers in a sample from an individual may be used directly to assist the individual, optionally in real-time to maintain or improve the individual's wellness. The present invention provides a method and system for maintaining or improving an individual's wellness based on measurements of a presence and/or concentration of one or more biomarkers in a sample from the individual. The invention provides individualized information, advice, or guidance for maintaining or improving wellness.